Mark Brunell stews on the bench following his crucial end-zone interception Sunday.

The push and pull between questionable play-calling and shoddy execution was in full swing this week -- and not just on talk radio -- as the Jacksonville Jaguars tried to explain an unexpected loss to Tennessee.

At issue was the third-and-goal play from the Titans 3-yard line with 1:03 remaining. A chip shot field goal would have tied the score, but coach Tom Coughlin called for a pass to Keenan McCardell.

Not recognizing that double-coverage was rolling McCardell's way, Mark Brunell lofted the ball toward the corner of the end zone. Samari Rolle made a break on the ball, got the interception and, after an intentional safety, the Titans had a 20-19 victory and a surprising lead in the AFC Central.

Brunell took blame for a bad decision on the pass. He wouldn't do the same for the play call, one that had Jaguars fans fuming, knowing the team had two timeouts and an almost sure ticket to overtime in the bag.

"I don't call them. I just run them," Brunell said during an edgier-than-usual session with reporters. "If you want information, if you want to talk about the play-calling, I'm not the one to do that."

In a similar vein, Coughlin took some blame, but said he couldn't explain Brunell's interception, or the read the quarterback made the play before, when he never appeared to see a wide-open Kyle Brady for a touchdown.

"The way I look at it, it's always my responsibility, so I take that one right on the chin," Coughlin said. "I wonder what I could have done differently. But the fact of the matter is, you've got to make a play in those situations."

Also being questioned was Coughlin's decision to bypass a 25-yard field goal at the end of the first half, opting for a fake that fooled nobody.

The receiver on the play, Rich Griffith, was blanketed in quadruple coverage. Holder Bryan Barker was supposed to have a running option, as well, but he was pushed out two yards short.

The score remained 3-0 at halftime and, with the stop, the Titans had all the momentum.

"Coming away with points there would have been a positive," Coughlin said. "When you take a chance like that in the kicking game and it works out your way, you're a genius. When it doesn't, you're a bum. There's no question about it."

There were other factors, like a driving rainstorm, or the defense's inability to hold on its biggest drive of the game, the 45-yard march that Neil O'Donnell led for the winning score.

But more than anything, Coughlin felt it was four turnovers that cost the Jaguars the game. That, not the play-calling, was what kept him up late Sunday night.

"Four turnovers is just so blatantly in contrast to what we believe in," Coughlin said. "The callous disregard for the ball just strikes right at your gut."

The schedule made this loss no easier to stomach.

Next week, the Jaguars travel to Pittsburgh, a place they have never won, where the Steelers are every bit as miffed over a loss at home, 29-10 to the Seattle Seahawks, against a team they figured they would beat.

Coughlin, however, wasn't quite ready to let his latest loss go.

"I want to grind on this one for a while, because this one hurts," he said. "This shouldn't have happened to a football team as far along as we are in a game like that at home."